G.R. No.

100113 September 3, 1991

RENATO CAYETANO, petitioner,
vs.
CHRISTIAN MONSOD, HON. JOVITO R. SALONGA, COMMISSION ON APPOINTMENT, and HON.
GUILLERMO CARAGUE, in his capacity as Secretary of Budget and Management, respondents.
Facts of the Case:
Christian Monsod was appointed as the Chairman of the Commission on Elections. His appointment was
affirmed by the Commission on Appointments. Monsods appointment was opposed by Renato Cayetano
on the ground that he does not qualify for he failed to meet the Constitutional requirement which provides
that the COMELEC Chairman should have been engaged in the practice law for at least ten years.
Monsods track record as a lawyer:
1. Passed the bar in 1960 with a rating of 86.55%.
2. Immediately after passing, worked in his fathers law firm for one year.
3. Thereafter, until 1970, he went abroad where he had a degree in economics and held various
positions in various foreign corporations.
4. In 1970, he returned to the Philippines and held executive jobs for various local corporations until
1986.
5. In 1986, he became a member of the Constitutional Commission.
ISSUE: Whether or not Christian Monsod qualifies as chairman of the COMELEC. What constitutes
practice of law?
HELD: Yes. Atty. Monsods past work experiences as a lawyer-economist, a lawyer-manager, a lawyerentrepreneur of industry, a lawyer-negotiator of contracts, and a lawyer-legislator of both the rich and the
poor verily more than satisfy the constitutional requirement that he has been engaged in the
practice of law for at least ten years.
As noted by various authorities, the practice of law is not limited to court appearances. The members of
the bench and bar and the informed laymen such as businessmen know that in most developed societies
today, substantially more legal work is transacted in law offices than in the courtrooms. General
practitioners of law who do both litigation and non-litigation work also know that in most cases they find
themselves spending more time doing what is loosely described as business counseling than in trying
cases. In the course of a working day the average general practitioner wig engage in a number of legal
tasks, each involving different legal doctrines, legal skills, legal processes, legal institutions, clients, and
other interested parties. Even the increasing numbers of lawyers in specialized practice wig usually
perform at least some legal services outside their specialty. By no means will most of this work involve
litigation, unless the lawyer is one of the relatively rare types a litigator who specializes in this work to
the exclusion of much else. Instead, the work will require the lawyer to have mastered the full range of
traditional lawyer skills of client counseling, advice-giving, document drafting, and negotiation.